‘Execs in graft raps must take leave’

Government officials facing graft charges or embroiled in corruption scandals are now supposed to go on leave while under investigation, President Arroyo said in a policy statement the other day.

The decision to adopt this policy aims to give impetus to the government’s campaign against graft and corruption, which is part of the President’s bid to attract foreign investments and improve the economy.

"We have government corporations and we also have some bureau directors, and I told them to go on (a) leave of absence if the evidence is strong, even if these (graft accusations) are still (being) investigated so that others would take over to serve," Mrs. Arroyo told Filipinos in Hanoi, Vietnam just before she ended her state visit.

Though she did not mention any particular official or specific graft cases, her statement was in apparent allusion to the recent cases involving the entire board of directors of the Public Estates Authority (PEA), whom she asked to go on leave pending the completion of the investigation on the alleged P600-million "overpricing" of the President Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard construction project off Roxas Boulevard.

Before she left Manila two weeks ago for official trips abroad, the President announced she would install an "interim board" at the PEA, a government-owned and controlled corporation under the Office of the President, while the case was being investigated by the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC), which she tasked to look into the case.

Another case apparently alluded to is that of Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) chairwoman Marilen Dinglasan and vice chairwoman June Keithley, whom Mrs. Arroyo asked to go on leave of absence while graft charges filed against each of them are pending resolution.

The President designated lawyer Dennis Manicad, a re-appointed MTRCB board member, as officer-in-charge of the board.

Mrs. Arroyo noted that her administration’s campaign against graft and corruption is also part of the government’s measures to address the budgetary deficit problem this year: by controlling state expenses, and to increase tax collections "through better efforts and efficiency, and fighting corruption."

"I want to assure you that we are doing everything we can so that our countrymen in the Philippines will have a professional and clean government which they deserve," she said.

The President added that there would be no sacred cows in her administration’s anti-graft drive. Not even First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, if he is again involved in a graft scandal, will be spared, she said.

"It is really important that if we really are to progress, we need good governance and I believe if we want to fight corruption, we must start an example from the top," Mrs. Arroyo said.

That is why, she said, "my husband (was) not exempted even if I believe those attacks against him were politically motivated. Nonetheless, I told him to undergo investigation. When he humbled himself to go through these investigations, I earned the moral authority to let others be investigated, whoever they are."

The President earlier called for a "lifestyle check" on all bureaucrats, from Cabinet secretaries down to bureau directors, as well as heads of all government-owned and controlled corporations and government financial institutions.

The "lifestyle check" directive was particularly addressed to the PAGC, headed by chairman Dario Rama. The PAGC is limited to investigating presidential appointees, and only up to regional bureau directors.

The directive was issued after Transparency International Inc., a global coalition against corruption, ranked the Philippines as the 10th most corrupt nation in the world, along with Pakistan, Romania, and Zambia. Bangladesh was tagged as the most corrupt.